The report draws its statistics from the office for National Statistics. You might think then that this is an 'objective' assessment. But it requires a note of caution, not about the statistics themselves, but the assumptions.

Adam Memon, the report author says:“Welfare dependency is an economically destructive phenomenon which tears at Britain’s social fabric. It reduces the incentive to work and earn more whilst keeping people trapped in a cycle of low aspirations, low productivity and low pay. The welfare state must protect the vulnerable and encourage self-reliance but for too many households it has become a permanent trap.Net dependency at 51.5% is still too high. Simply attempting to alleviate difficult economic conditions with welfare payments can only ever be a short term fix. Indeed, the case for making a further £12 billion of savings in the welfare budget rests not only on the need to reduce the budget deficit but also on the need to reform welfare to boost employment and encourage growth in real wages. The Government must press ahead with deeper welfare reform.”

The use of the word 'dependency' is in vogue. We hear it from across the political spectrum. It conjures images of a malaise or an addiction, as if the poor are addicted by benefits. It makes the assumption also that such 'dependency' can be 'cured' by withholding the benefits - a kind of welfare cold turkey. The poor will of course suffer withdrawal symptoms but in the end all will be well. Their dependency will be cured.

It also puts the cart before the horse. What drives 'dependency' is low pay and poor prospects. Of course welfare might push wages down, but the assumption, presented by the Prime Minister that miraculously wages would rise if the government cut welfare is economic nonsense. If the government wants to reduce the need for benefits, then it should ensure that wages rise and there is a reduction in zero hour contracts. Simply cutting benefits will drive more into poverty.

The report emphasises another statistic so often ignored, or rarely stated. The poorest pay proportionately more tax than do the rich.

The report points out that the richest fifth of households paid £29,200 in tax over 2013/14 which equates to an
average tax rate of 34.8% of their gross incomes. The poorest fifth of households paid £4,900
in taxes over the year. Whilst this is much less in absolute terms, at 37.8%, it is proportionately

I left school at 15 in the 1960s without qualifications. My last school report said they could 'see no reason why public money should be wasted on the attempted education of this boy'. I grew up in a one-parent family on a council estate. I am now an academic, medical ethicist, author, writer and singer, composer and arranger, and lead singer with the Oxford Trobadors. I am a former Chair of a local government standards committee, I have a passion for ethics in public life and particularly governance.
I have served on NHS research ethics committees and as an ethics advisor on biomedical matters and tutor in medical ethics. I am a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, Royal Society of Medicine and the Higher Education Academy.
I am News Editor for Voices from Oxford and an Honorary Senior Lecturer at University College London and Honorary Professor of Medical Ethics at ASRAM Medical College, Eluru, India.
I appeared on The Stephen Nolan show (Radio NI), Woman's Hour (BBC Radio 4), Nightwaves (BBC Radio 3) and various TV programs including 21st Century Girl's Guide to Sex and The Unofficial World Record of Sex. I am author of It Wasn't Always Late Summer.